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"Following a deadly attack on Russia's Khmeimim Air Base in Syria on December 31st,
which killed at least two servicemen and damaged or destroyed aircraft based there, it
now seems as if the base is coming under attack on a fairly regular basis according to
reports.

Days before the deadly New Years Eve attack that we still know little about, on
December 27th, another onslaught of artillery occurred. Two of the rockets were
supposedly shot down by Pantsir-S1 point air defense systems while at least one other
impacted outside the base.

Just hours ago, on January 6th, 2017, reports of another attack on the base began
emerging, this one supposedly coming from weaponized drones."

Turkey Launched An Offensive Against Kurds in
Northwestern Syria, Here's Why It Matters:

"Turkey says it has effectively kicked off an offensive to destroy Kurdish forces in and
around the far northwestern Syrian city of Afrin with an artillery bombardment, after
deciding against air strikes in the face of Syrian threats. It is the latest indication that
the conflict in the country is evolving rapidly as the threat of ISIS terrorists has steadily
dissipated. There is now the potential for a dangerous three-way standoff between the
Turks, the United States, and Syria’s dictator Bashar Al Assad and his Russian and
Iranian benefactors."

"The U.S. military says members of the American-backed coalition fighting ISIS in Syria,
most likely U.S. special operation forces, and their local partners have come under
attack in Eastern Syria from forces allied with the country's dictator Bashar Al Assad.
Details remain thin, but the United States is reportedly investigating whether Russian
mercenaries or Iranian militias may have been involved in the incident.

On Feb. 7, 2018, U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military operations
in the Middle East and Central Asia, announced the attack in Syria's Middle Euphrates
River Valley had occurred in a brief and vaguely worded statement. The release
described the attack as "unprovoked" and directed at a Syrian Democratic Forces
(SDF) headquarters located nearly five miles east of a formal, but dubiously effective
"de-confliction" line that the United States and Russia have agreed to in Syria to
separate the two countries' activities. The enemy force reportedly included artillery
and other heavy weapons and had to cross the Euphrates River with that equipment."

"New reports are emerging stating an armored column crossed the Euphrates, closing
in on U.S. and allied forces, with a large death toll coming as a result of U.S. coalition
strikes.

Pentagon now saying some 100 Pro-Assad troops were killed after a large force of
tanks and artillery threatened American advisors and Syrian Democratic Forces."

Flurry Of Aircraft Shoot-Downs And Counter-Strikes Erupt
Across Israel And Syria:

"Information about an aerial battle over western Syria has been coming fast and
furious in the overnight hours. Late Friday an Iranian drone crossed over the Golan
Heights and entered into Israeli airspace. The aircraft was detected and shot down. In
response to the incursion, Israel promptly launched a strike on the drone's command
vehicle and other components related to its operation. Another larger air raid was later
executed by the IAF against various targets in Syria. During this operation an Israeli
Air Force F-16I Sufa ("Storm") was shot down.

A video has been released showing the downing of the Iranian drone. It appears to be
a flying-wing configuration. In particular, Iran has been working to build similar
shaped unmanned aircraft as the stealthy RQ-170 Sentinel it captured in 2011,
although these knock-off craft, which come in various sizes and configurations, are far
less advanced than their American counterpart. The propeller-driven "Simorgh"
variant of the design appears to best match the aircraft shown in the video being shot
down, although the video is low quality so it's hard to make the identification
definitively.

Notice that the Iranian drone appears to release decoy flares before being shot down
by an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. This would indicate a fairly advanced system.
The second part of the video shows the line-of-sight control vehicle for the drone
being destroyed by an Israeli guided munition. Note that the weapon uses man-in-
the-loop terminal guidance which is very popular with Israeli forces. You can read
more about this concept of operations and these types of munitions here. The actual
weapon used was not fired from an aerial platform, it was an IAI Harop "suicide"
drone (seen it banner image at the top of this article)."

And he calls out Russia and dares them to do something. So how do the Trump supporters feel about this response despite threats Russian gave of "grave consequences" to this action. One of Hilary's biggest criticism was that she is a war-hawk, might try to ignite WWIII by not getting along with Russia.

Me, personally, approves Trump's action in this matter. You can't be a pussy all the time when the other guy doesn't seem to have the same worry as you about a potential conflict or even WWIII. If Russia doesn't appear worried about starting WWIII why should we be the only one? One of my biggest criticism of Obama was that he walked back on his Red-Line and which in turn emboldened a lot of bad actors around the world including Putin.

__________________

Kudara nai na!Sig by TheEroKing.Calling on all Naruto fans, One Piece fans, and Shounen-fans in general... I got two words for you: One-Punch Man!Executive member of the ASS. Ready to flee at the first sign of trouble.

Just get the fuck out of Syria then there will be no conflict.
What exactly does Russia do that could start WWIII?

Start shooting at the launching platforms.

The missiles are suppose to be targeting Syrian positions, not the Russian naval base.

But if the Russian base commander gets an itchy finger, or if a missile hits the wrong place (or is shot down by the Russian defenses and lands in the wrong place) they could justify firing missiles or torpedoes back at the US Navy ships firing the missiles, or start sending interceptors to shoot down American bombers that are launching cruise missiles.

When it comes to the culpability for those chemical attacks, I've gone from skepticism to being convinced that it's the Assad regime, due to reports like this: http://undocs.org/S/2017/904

Though this is something that came out after Trump's previous missile spam.

Of course, I don't think Assad ordered any of these gas attacks. Such atrocities are just normal in civil war, there are fanatics on all sides and you can't expect NATO standards of discipline from any of them. Still, war is the government's responsibility, as is acquiring and maintaining these illegal weapons.

It's also the case that when the pattern [Gas in Syria] -> [Trump drops bombs] is established, guerrilla trolls from anywhere can take advantage of it, so I still maintain it's a very bad idea to bomb before investigation in each individual case.

And I don't agree that there should be any retaliation in the first place, when no American allies have been attacked. It's just pointless dick waggling.

About "ww3"... Syria is different from the usual middle east territories the USA has used as test beds for their cool new weapons systems, because of the Russian presence. If anyone has cause to retaliate, it would be the Russians since it's their ally getting bombed. Trump said something about ww1 and the lessons we've learned from it. Well, that whole war started when some king took a wrong turn and got shot by some commie nut somewhere. In many ways, it's a lot less than what's going on now. Maybe that's the lesson we should have learned.

Me, personally, approves Trump's action in this matter. You can't be a pussy all the time when the other guy doesn't seem to have the same worry as you about a potential conflict or even WWIII. If Russia doesn't appear worried about starting WWIII why should we be the only one? One of my biggest criticism of Obama was that he walked back on his Red-Line and which in turn emboldened a lot of bad actors around the world including Putin.

Monir buddy I like you. But I have no words to explain how much I disagree with you. Makes me want to throw a melon at your head!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheForsaken

Just get the fuck out of Syria then there will be no conflict.
What exactly does Russia do that could start WWIII?

That the problem. USA preforms terrorist acts all around the world. But God forbid if anyone dares to even a lift a single finger to stop those acts. They play the victim card and star WW III!

That the problem. USA preforms terrorist acts all around the world. But God forbid if anyone dares to even a lift a single finger to stop those acts. They play the victim card and star WW III!

The US isn't the only bad actor here; the US might want to act only for showing its power and keeping face but Russia is in Syria not for fighting ISIS but to keep it puppet in power and a foothold in the middle-east.

WW1 didn't start because of the actions of a single nation but of many and it's the scenario we are facing in Syria.

Am I the only one get some serious flashbacks at this "Mission Accomplished!" statement? Is no one else remembering when dubya said the exact same thing before Iraq's stability became a thing of the past (eventually giving birth to ISIS) and now this? Are we seeing the birth of an escalation of violence that will make the middle east conflict a clear and present danger for the rest of the human race? Those tickets to mars start to look more desirable every day

The US isn't the only bad actor here; the US might want to act only for showing its power and keeping face but Russia is in Syria not for fighting ISIS but to keep it puppet in power and a foothold in the middle-east.

That is what a large number of people out there forget when they speak their opinion about the conflict, and those people go as far as to "embrace" the ****ing Assad side in this, which is totally despicable for starters. I do not condone yesterday's attacks, but I despise dictators above anything else.

In the whole time when ISIS were a problem, the Russians did almost nothing to fight against them while local coalition forces and Western special forces did most of the job. While we can accuse the US of creating the mess in the first place, they made efforts to try mopping it up at the very least. On the other hand, Russia creates a mess, but doesn't mop anything.

That is what a large number of people out there forget when they speak their opinion about the conflict, and those people go as far as to "embrace" the ****ing Assad side in this, which is totally despicable for starters. I do not condone yesterday's attacks, but I despise dictators above anything else.

As far as I share your dislike (not to use a more colorful word) of dictators, I acknowledge than the power vacuum created when one of those are ''disposed'' of is likely to create a situation as bad if not worse than the one before, even more so when all the parties on the ground (save maybe for the Kurds and that I am not even certain) could be condemned for war crime multiple time. If the whole civil war could had been solved with a MOAB (or maybe a Tzar Bomba) dropped on Assad head, it would had been done already.

So just keep getting berated, toe stepped on, humiliated, and etc... because we don't want WWIII? Peace cannot be attained by one party alone. It didn't work in WWII where US was trying so hard to not get involved in WWII until Pearl Harbor. It's like trying to clap with one hand. Is that too complicated to understand?

One of the reason I wanted Hilary to be the president was because she had every intention of standing up to Putin. He probably doesn't even seek his new term if she were to become the president.

Anyway, in hindsight, now we know it was all a charade by Trump to divert attention from something else. Washington Post reported all targets were more or less missed and/or moved from the previous position with all of Assad's (Russia's) chemical stockpile intact. The question is will he use chemical weapons again. Probably?

Quote:

Originally Posted by milan kyuubi

Monir buddy I like you. But I have no words to explain how much I disagree with you. Makes me want to throw a melon at your head!

I like you too MK. Let's get dinner and then get a room where we can touch each other inappropriately. Now that's out of the way, which part did you dislike?

I am an American. My interest lies with my country. When my country does well, I do well. I most certainly won't have an opinion to please or displease anyone. It's my opinion based on my own understanding of the world around me.

__________________

Kudara nai na!Sig by TheEroKing.Calling on all Naruto fans, One Piece fans, and Shounen-fans in general... I got two words for you: One-Punch Man!Executive member of the ASS. Ready to flee at the first sign of trouble.

I like you too MK. Let's get dinner and then get a room where we can touch each other inappropriately. Now that's out of the way, which part did you dislike?

I am an American. My interest lies with my country. When my country does well, I do well. I most certainly won't have an opinion to please or displease anyone. It's my opinion based on my own understanding of the world around me.

Hahahaha!!! I wish I can meet you in real life! Doesn't matter anymore. It's water under the bridge now. I found debating such things only lead to headache!

Is that so, not talking about Russian or America, purely from Syria perspective, i once heard that the people in Syria are actually Ok with Assad, that is, they agree that the guy have his issues and probably not the ideal leader or the best guy ever, but he could do fine enough for stability..... Of course this opinion is long way before the whole chemical attack things though.